Motorist Hits Crossing Guard At Bear Lakes Middle School

WEST PALM BEACH — For years, Carol Eckman has helped students at Bear Lakes Middle School safely cross the intersection at Military Trail and Lakeside Green Boulevard.

But on Monday, it was Eckman, 33, who needed the help. At 8:25 a.m., as the crossing guard tried to assist a group of children on the west side of Military Trail, a car ran a red light and struck her, Sheriff's Office officials said.

Eckman suffered a broken left shinbone, a separated right shoulder and head cuts. Bear Lakes Principal Andrea Peppers comforted her until an ambulance arrived.

"I was trying to keep her calm, telling her that we had contacted her family," Peppers said. Eckman had surgery to repair her shoulder at Palm Beaches Medical Center in West Palm Beach and is in stable condition, hospital officials said. Peppers said the handful of students who saw the accident received counseling.

The driver of the car, Sylvia Goldberg, 90, was cited for failing to yield to a pedestrian at a crosswalk and for disregarding the traffic signal. She told a sheriff's deputy that the light was green when she drove through the intersection, but several witnesses contradicted her, traffic unit Sgt. David Johnson said.

Eckman has worked as a crossing guard in the sheriff's traffic division since 1988. Because of a 1993 state law, she and all other Florida crossing guards receive eight hours of safety training, four in the classroom and four on the street.

But the training isn't much help at a school crosswalk that draws heavy rush-hour traffic and lacks flashing lights such as the ones at nearby Seminole Trails Elementary School.

"I tried to get the flashers but couldn't because the school doesn't face the highway," said Marcia Andrews, who was the principal at Bear Lakes last year. "I think they would make a big difference."